Public pay telephones were introduced in the 1880s. In general, operation of such pay telephones required the deposit of a coin in order to unlock some mechanism, for example, the crank with which the user signalled the operator or a sliding door in front of the mouthpiece. On occasion, the entire telephone was enclosed in a locked box that could be opened only with the deposit of a coin, or a key. One arrangement reversed the usual scheme and enclosed the telephone in a booth having a door that locked behind the telephone user. After having made his call, the user could escape only by depositing a coin in the door lock. Only rarely did the early arrangements provide any means for refunding the user's payment in the event that the call could not be completed. An early attempt to remedy this difficulty relied on nothing more than a piece of string.
For many years, the common form of telephone pay station included several slots for the deposit of coins of varying denominations. A typical arrangement allowed the deposit of nickels, dimes and quarters so that payment of various amounts could be utilized in connection with the pay station. This arrangement was first used with so-called manual telephones in which often the initial deposit of a single coin worked to signal the operator that a call was sought to be placed. Additional coins were added for payment of calls of longer duration or for calls to long-distance locations. Internal arrangements of gongs transmitted various sounds back to the operator and gave the operator an indication of proper coin deposit.
Ultimately, telephone pay stations became dial operated, and an operator would normally not be required in order to place local calls. Various arrangements for actuating the equipment and for accepting and returning coins were developed, including, ultimately, electronic totalizers that were able to count and accurately register the number and denomination of coins deposited. Such totalizers also facilitated the development and utilization of so-called single-slot pay stations, wherein a single slot accepted coins of various denominations, eliminating the traditional three-slot design that had been utilized for many years.
Pay telephones that accept credit cards represent a much more recent development that has found wide-spread use within the past decade. Such arrangements, typically found in airports, railroad stations, etc., have been well received by business travelers, largely because credit-card telephones mitigate the need to carry the many coins required to place telephone calls, particularly long-distance calls.
In the United States today, more people use public telephones more often than in any other country in the world, and the subsequent installation and adaptation of public telephones to different environments have been limited only by the imagination. As a result, significant experimentation has been done in connection with the deployment of pay telephones in other than conventional environments. The deployment of telephone pay stations on railcars, particularly on deluxe passenger trains, has been experimented with from time to time. However, the most recent development and adaptation of the pay station have permitted use in commercial aircraft. Credit-card-accepting pay stations have been incorporated into commercial aircraft where, by means of radio-telephone links, telephone service can be had by the user from the commercial aircraft to ground-based telephone equipment.
With regard to the placement of telephone pay stations on board commercial aircraft, the telephones themselves have typically been installed on bulkheads located adjacent to flight-attendant stations. This arrangement requires the user to leave his seat to go to the location of the on-board pay station to initiate the call. If the pay station is equipped with a wireless telephone unit, the flight attendant often becomes involved in providing the user with the hand-held telephone. Such arrangements fail to afford the convenience, and perhaps the privacy, that an aircraft passenger might desire in connection with the placement of a call.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and more effective telephone pay station for use on board in-flight commercial aircraft or in similar other vehicular environments where convenience of utilization and ready access facilitates and encourages use of such pay telephones.